Becoming a published author and illustrator came about by accident, an idea created in an artroom, in a fabulous College in Egham Surrey.
I always loved art, each picture I sketch has a meaning, each picture demonstrates my inner feelings in one way or another.
My sight is poor, I only see a small section of any picture or any face but in my mind I can see things as a whole.
It's like putting a jigsaw puzzle together or joining the dots, using my imagination.
Art is my therapy, my way of expressing myself.
I always enjoyed portraiture, I could express my mood through faces, happy, sad, angry, anything really, art makes me happy.
To stretch myself it was suggested I write and illustrate a children's book!
As I put my mind to it I thought about the characters I'd enjoyed as a little girl and really happy memories flooded back to me, it then came to me that this was my way of getting across an important message.
I loved life before Primary School, I loved the books that were read to me and then at Primary School I loved the books I read there, the messages in the books, the stories with real meaning.
Then I remembered the difficult times, feeling different, but being accepted then I remembered my most tortured years when I was bullied, I wasn't accepted, I tried to hide the person I am, denying my condition because others made me feel "alien" the worse days of my life. Time to make a positive out of a negative.
I could write and illustrate a children's book with a message that I'd like children to think about, make my worse life experience into a positive and in doing so hope the little children reading my book would not make the lives of others difficult, not be cruel but more accepting.
Yes, that's what I'll do, that's what I did, it got me the highest mark in my art exam but not only that the book got published and has now been read by or to hundreds if not thousands of children, it is now available as a hard copy, an audiobook and an ebook.
I donated my book to my charity to raise funds for others with Usher Syndrome because that is what is important to me.
If you'd be interested in buying "Frog, Froggy and Froggit" please contact me.
As a result of the popularity of the first book book two is on its way soon.
